TESLA SPOTTING IS HARD

[sobayimage]

A Tesla is hard to spot. I only recognized it as a Tesla because the very small droopy “T” on the hood. The car’s shape is not distinctive and they could be mistaken for a Camry, Jag or Kia. They must be selling will because I’ve seen three of them within a block of my house in the last 4 days. One was white, one black and the other silver with a black roof. There appears no model on the side or back so the battery size is not indicated. I live in the cheaper area of Palos Verdes Estates and its not a drive through section so they must be local. My neighbor has a BMW electric and that’s easy to spot because of the circuit board decals on the sides. I had lunch at Hennessey's in Hermosa Beach on Tuesday and when I returned to my RAV4 EV another RAV4 EV was parked right next door to mine with a license of “TOYTSLA”. The RAV4 EV is still the rarest of the electrics.

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[cwerdna]

I've seen a few Model S around my area. I disagree that it could be mistaken for a Camry but could see how it from a distance could be mistakened for a Jag, Audi, Kia or Hyundai Sonata and vice versa. I've almost made that mistake myself.

Wow. Cheaper part of Palos Verdes? I've always had the impression that whole area is expensive. I'd heard about the "rich people" living in that area when I was in college in LA (I grew up in the Bay Area). One of my college friends (we went to HS together in the Bay Area too) had his wedding at La Venta Inn. It's probably the nicest wedding venue I've ever been to. All of us, when we got there said "wow!"

Ahhh, your neighbor must have the ActiveE. I'm unclear if all of them have those graphics.

Yeah, Rav4 EV sightings are rare. The only time I've seen 1 in the wild (not at auto shows or test drive events) was waidy's at a Leaf meet. (She doesn't know me, but everyone knows her...) Coda sightings are rare. I've only seen 1 in the wild (again, not counting auto shows and test drive events.) And, since they went BK, their population won't be growing.

 

[jspearman]

I find the S to be very easy to spot, but that's me. See lots of them in Phoenix, but only one RAV4 EV

 

[fooljoe]

On the back right I've seen "85" or "P85" denoting the 85kwh battery or Performance 85kwh model. If there's nothing there I presume that means it's a 60kwh model.

 

[Vach]

One drove right by me down here in the valley, and I didn't notice it until I saw the "Tesla" on the back. So I suppose I agree with you.

 

[miimura]

I saw a Model S the other day that had a badge that said 60 or 60kWh on the right side of the rear valance. That sighting was two Model S cars side-by-side occupying both lanes at the stop sign leaving my neighborhood.

 

[TonyWilliams]

The RAV4 EV is still the rarest of the electrics.

Now, actually the Honda Fit EV sells worse!!!

 

[cwerdna]

Codas are pretty darn rare consider they sold less than 100 before going bankrupt. The exact # is unclear. It's probably greater than 78...

 

[n3ckf]

For spotting odd electric vehicles, try the Google Parking areas. There's tons of them. We have several BMW Active E's for instance including one in my building here. 2 Rav4 EVs now (actually 3, since i saw another one parked at our chargers that looks a few months older than either mine or the other person in my group who bought one the same weekend). Volts, Teslas and Plug-in Priuses are too numerous to count here. (a few Tesla Roadsters + a rapidly growing number of Tesla Model S's). Of course, it being Google, you'd probably expect that...

If you go to MakerFaire this weekend, they have one there. A nice lady named Joyce was trying to convince people to buy more
I also met one of the engineers on the project there, who pointed out what a number of things under the hood actually did. There's also the Electric Miata project showing a car and about 5 other electric conversions. I was really interested to see the "Open Source" charger project launching there (it sa Kickstarter, the project is called "EMW"). The device is called a "Juice Box" and they had one there charging one of their converted electric cars at 50 amps.

 

[Ampster]

A Tesla is hard to spot. I only recognized it as a Tesla because the very small droopy “T” on the hood. The car’s shape is not distinctive and they could be mistaken for a Camry, Jag or Kia. They must be selling will because I’ve seen three of them within a block of my house in the last 4 days. One was white, one black and the other silver with a black roof. There appears no model on the side or back so the battery size is not indicated. I live in the cheaper area of Palos Verdes Estates and its not a drive through section so they must be local. My neighbor has a BMW electric and that’s easy to spot because of the circuit board decals on the sides. I had lunch at Hennessey's in Hermosa Beach on Tuesday and when I returned to my RAV4 EV another RAV4 EV was parked right next door to mine with a license of “TOYTSLA”. The RAV4 EV is still the rarest of the electrics.

Hey that was me. You and I met at the focus group. I think there are at least 3 RAV4EVs in Hermosa Beach.

 

[Damchi]

Sobayimage,

Do you have a silver Rav4 EV? And when you leave PV do you take Gaffey? If so you are the only Rav4 EV that I have seen in the wild. I've been looking for more Ravs in the Pedro PV area. I have even shown mine in the PV car show on the first Saturday of each month. I park next to the guy that has both a roadster and a model S. the model S brings the people over and than I get to talking to them about the Rav.

 

[ufojoe]

There are many Tesli in the Newport Beach area, I see at least one or two a day.........I have yet to see another RAV4EV though.......